We Polish soldiers
For our freedom and yours
Have given our souls to God
Our bodies to the soil of Italy
and our hearts to Poland

I explored the Cemetery but could not find the inscription anywhere. At the conclusion of a Mass conducted by a Polish priest from Krakow, I asked him if he knew the whereabouts of these words. He and everybody else I asked, including tour bus operators from Poland, pointed to ‘POWIEDZ POLSCE ZE¦MY POLEGLI WIERNI W JEJ S£UZBIE’ inscribed in an arc on the concrete platform near the Altar area. After a thorough search, including a closed off zone containing a crowned Polish eagle monument, I went to explore the Monte Cassino Abbey and the museum within.

Obejrzyj fotogaleriê z Monte Cassino. Please view the Monte Cassino photogallery

Here I received a positive response to my inquiries. Apparently the quote I was seeking could be found inscribed on the obelisk at the summit of the Cemetery hill. Back at the Cemetery just to the left of the entry gate were directions to 3 Polish monuments but there was no mention of the obelisk. A sign states that this area is now private property and it is blocked by a 3 metre fence. I could see the obelisk at the summit beyond the Cemetery so I re-entered it, hoping to discover a way to the top.

I climbed over the fence behind the Altar, took another look at the Polish eagle monument and turned left, climbed over the small perimeter fence and eventually came to a narrow sealed road. At a T intersection that had no noticeboard, I took the upwards alternative hoping it would lead me to the summit still a few hundred metres higher in altitude from where I stood. Soon the road turned into a trail and along the way I came across markers for two, no longer existing, Polish memorials. I pushed on past the bombed out ruins of a building to find a destroyed German tank that had been turned into a Polish memorial, with the tank tracks formed into a cross.

The trail ended here and I saw no alternative but to climb through the thick, thorned undergrowth up the steepish hillside toward the obelisk summit. More than an hour later, with bloodied hands and torn trousers I entered a clearing and was met by barking dogs and an Italian peasant farmer that had just come out of his house. He pointed out the way to the obelisk and I marched on.

There I beheld a beautiful sight. The late afternoon’s sun’s rays formed a halo effect around the obelisk and already I felt that the climb was worthwhile. Walking up the stairs leading to the obelisk I observed various inscriptions and lists of names of the Polish soldiers of ‘3 Dywizji Strzelcow Karpackich’. However, on the four walls of the obelisk itself, were the words I was searching for, inscribed in four different languages. The wording was slightly different to what was quoted in the books I had read. In English, they movingly said:

For our freedom and yours
We soldiers of Poland
Gave
Our soul to God
Our life to the soil of Italy
Our hearts to Poland

I reflected on the meaning of these thoughts in the terms of my own life and left determined to do all I can to repay the debt I owe the noble young men that risked their lives so that we could live free.

Obejrzyj fotogaleriê z Monte Cassino. Please view the Monte Cassino photogallery

If you visit Cassino and want to see the monuments I have described and illustrated commemorating its capture by Polish troops on the 18th May, 1944, follow the trail to the tank, but come back to the T intersection and take it – from there it is an easy 1km walk to the summit.

Felix Molski

See related links:

Opening of the Tank Mounment

Battlefield Tours

Obelisk 3 Dywizji Strzelców Karpackich na You Tube

Unveiling of the 3DSK obelisk with generals Anders and Freyberg

Ostatni cmentarz Rzeczpospolitej

Nie ma wiêkszego pomnika chwa³y naszej ojczyzny ni¿ ten cmentarz. Jaka by³a tamta Polska, ¿e ginêli za ni± ochotniczo nie tylko Polacy, ale tak¿e Bia³orusini, Litwini, Ormianie, Tatarzy, Ukraiñcy, ¯ydzi i Niemcy?

Osiemnastego maja 1944 r. nad ruinami klasztoru na Monte Cassino za³opota³ proporzec 12. Pu³ku U³anów Podolskich, a wkrótce potem polska flaga. Dobieg³a koñca najkrwawsza bitwa kampanii w³oskiej, w której potê¿n± daninê krwi z³o¿y³ 2. Korpus Polski, walnie przyczyniaj±c siê do prze³amania linii Gustawa i do otwarcia aliantom drogi na Rzym. Po bitwie, miêdzy Monte Cassino i wzgórzem „593” – na szlaku natarcia 3. Dywizji Strzelców Karpackich, która oprócz 5. Kresowej Dywizji Piechoty i 2. Warszawskiej Brygady Pancernej stanowi³a trzon si³ 2. Korpusu – zbudowano cmentarz, na którym spoczê³y cia³a 1078 ¿o³nierzy Rzeczypospolitej (923 poleg³o w tej bitwie, inni w kolejnych walkach na Pó³wyspie Apeniñskim). Pó¼niej z³o¿ono tu tak¿e dowódcê 2. Korpusu gen. W³adys³awa Andersa i dowódcê Dywizji Karpackiej gen. Bronis³awa Ducha oraz towarzysz±cego ¿o³nierzom na ich bojowym szlaku biskupa polowego WP Józefa Gawlinê. „Idzie Kresowa, idzie Karpacka, ka¿da bojow± chrzêszcz±c maszyn±…”

ca³y artyku³ na niezaleznej.pl